wetback

noun

A Mexican who enters the US illegally, esp as a migratory worker •The term may be generalizing to include all illegal immigrants: An American's as good as a wetback, who is a Mexican whom we don't know how he got here

[1929+; fr the fact that they get their backs wet in wading across the Rio Grande; the terms wet pony, wet cow, etc, were used earlier for animals brought illegally across the border]

The Dictionary of American Slang, Fourth Edition by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. and Robert L. Chapman, Ph.D.Copyright (C) 2007 by HarperCollins Publishers.Cite This Source